The Passion of Saint Pamphilus and His Companions

those things which are hidden and inexplicable to us; but those suggestions of God which are sown in your own mind, and which contain a doctrine profitable to all in common regarding the providence of human affairs. You will also set forth for us, as is fitting for the dignity of the matter, those manifest aids of God, your defender and guardian in wars, the slaughter of your enemies and those who lay snares for you, the reinforcements brought in dangers, the ready ease in difficulties, the defense in solitude, the diligence and dexterity in straits, the foreknowledge of future events, the provident arrangement of those things which pertain to the highest matters, deliberations on uncertain and obscure affairs, the undertaking of the greatest matters, the administration of civil affairs, the marshaling of military forces, the right correction everywhere, the constitutions concerning public law, and finally, laws most useful for the common life of men. You will also recount accurately and faithfully each of those things which, while obscure to us, are most known to you alone, and are stored in the bosom of your royal memory as if in some secret treasury. Because of all these things, as is likely, since you had used these very proofs of the divine power of our Savior, you proposed the basilica, as a certain trophy of the victory once won by Him over death, to be looked upon by all, not only by the faithful but also by the unbelievers; and you displayed to all men—faithful and unbelievers alike—the holy temple of a holy God, and the most splendid and beautiful monuments of immortal life and the heavenly kingdom; and sacred gifts for the victory of our Savior, the highest Emperor of all, most appropriately suiting a victorious emperor. With these you adorned that witness and monument of immortal life: both by expressing the heavenly Word of God, the victor and triumpher, in royal characters, and by proclaiming aloud to all nations, in clear and most unambiguous words, a pious and religious confession of God. ^B You will also recount, without omitting anything, each of those things which are hidden from us but known to you alone, and which are stored in your royal records as if in ^C secret treasuries. On account of all these, having rightly used these very brilliant proofs of the saving power, you designated [the church] as a house of prayer, a trophy of His victory over death, to all men—faithful and unbelieving alike—and as a holy temple of God, and as bright and great and most beautiful dedications of immortal life and of a divine kingdom, things well-fitting and truly proper for a king, as offerings for the victory of the all-sovereign Savior. And the things with which you surrounded the witness and monument of His immortal life, the heavenly Word of God, you expressed as victor and triumpher in royal characters, ^D preaching to all nations, with bright and unobscured voices, by deed and word, the pious and God-loving confession.

ACTS OF THE PASSION OF ST. PAMPHILUS AND COMPANIONS

THE ACTS OF THE PASSION OF ST. PAMPHILUS AND HIS COMPANIONS

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MONITUM

THE STRUGGLE OF THE HOLY AND GLORIOUS MARTYRS OF CHRIST, PAMPHILUS, VALENS, PAUL, SELEUCUS, PORPHYRIUS, THEODULUS, JULIAN, AND THE EGYPTIANS, WRITTEN BY EUSEBIUS PAMPHILI.

^A ... seven. Then, regarding the two companions of Saint Pamphilus, he acted in such a way as to provide from the book of Eusebius, *On the Martyrs*, chapter 11, those things which relate precisely to them; reserving the complete Acts of all from Metaphrastes (as he was named by Lipomanus and Surius) for this day of June, on which all the Latins name Saint Pamphilus: but on no foundation that we can know, other than an arbitrary choice. Although I do not strongly approve of this action, and would have preferred the whole matter to have been handled in the month of February, yet I am compelled to follow it here, so that I may at least now supply what is missing there. As for the Acts that are attributed to Metaphrastes by them, I shall give them such as he himself inserted into his collection, not as composed by him, but as composed by Eusebius; just as we have also received the Greek text from the Medicean manuscript under this title: *The Contest of the holy and glorious martyrs of Christ, Pamphilus, Valens, Paul, Seleucus, Porphyrius, (the names of Theodulus, Elias, Jeremias, Isaias, Samuel and Daniel seem to have fallen out) Egyptians (because only the last five were) written by Eusebius Pamphili*—for this surname he assumed in memory of a dear friend, and always used—*Bishop of Caesarea, and writer of this history.*

And here, indeed, Eusebius, about to insert the martyrdom of Pamphilus and his companions also into the aforementioned book *On the Martyrs of Palestine*, after a brief exordium to chapter 11, having praised Pamphilus in passing, speaks thus: *The remaining virtues and glorious deeds of this man, which require a more lengthy account, we have already long since comprised in three books in a special work which we wrote concerning his life.* Hence, when Jerome, in the book *On Writers*, had enumerated among the writings of Eusebius, *Three Books on the Life of Pamphilus*; that more ancient martyrologist, who preceded Usuard and Ado, dictated these words for both of them to accept: *Whose, or rather this man’s life, Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, comprehends in three books.* Oh, that these were now extant! There exists meanwhile (as I myself think) their final and principal chapter, namely the last confession of the holy martyr and his companions; which Eusebius himself, omitting rhetorical ornamentation, and using for the most part the same words, inserted into his *History*, or rather his book *On the Martyrs*, as I said. Indeed, I cannot here agree with Valesius, the most learned translator of Eusebius, who in his notes believes that this is not a part of that larger work, but that Metaphrastes, having obtained a fuller copy of the aforementioned *History* than we now have, was able to write things which are not now read in the same *History*. Far be it from us to say that the *History* of Eusebius, as we now have it, is so significantly mutilated; by the same argument, we would be bringing his other parts into suspicion of a similar mutilation. It should be said, rather, that Eusebius used his earlier writings in his later work, and, having omitted what was less necessary, transcribed the rest from there in the same or almost the same words as before.

PART ONE

Containing the praises of all twelve, and especially of Pamphilus.

^B The time now invites us to open before everyone that great and celebrated theater of the holy martyr Pamphilus, and of those wonderful men who finished their lives with him, and who embraced the manifold struggles of piety. For although very many of those who struggled during the persecution known to us against us showed great courage, we have written of the struggle of those who are the subject of this discourse, which is the rarest we have known, because in it there will appear at once, as if in a single view, every kind of physical age and spiritual disposition, and a great diversity of life and conduct; but above all, the variety of torments, and consequently the crowns prepared for each according to the consummation of his martyrdom. For it will be possible to see some of those who were among the Egyptians, juniors and even boys; others with them (perhaps "Egyptians" the translator should have written, as he ought have), and others young men... indeed, my most dear Paul of Jamnia.

ns, juniors and even boys; others with them, and others young men ^A of most holy gray hair and profound old age, Valens, deacon of the Church of Jerusalem, and Theodulus, who made his name a reality.

2. Such was the variety of age among them. They differed also in the training of their souls; for some were more uninstructed, as boys still bearing a simpler mind, while others possessed a character most firm and sober. There were also among them such as were not unskilled in sacred studies, and indeed a preternatural and virtuous courage belonged to all of them alike. But in the midst of them, like a light-bearing luminary among shimmering stars, shone my master—for it is no longer permitted for me to call the master and truly blessed Pamphilus a mere comrade ^B—for he was not only moderately versed in the education admired among the Greeks, but he was also ^C—if one may speak somewhat boldly, yet truthfully—more experienced in divine dogmas and the divinely inspired Scriptures than any of those who were with him. He possessed, moreover, a greater advantage than these: the insight and wisdom given to him from on high.

3. Thus it was with them regarding the soul, but regarding their life and mode of conduct there was the greatest difference among them. For while Pamphilus was of noble descent according to the flesh, and had become illustrious in the civil administrations of his homeland, and Seleucus had been most visibly honored with military ranks, others were of a middle and common upbringing. Nor was their company lacking in the servile class; for when Porphyrius, who was attached to them, was a servant of an illustrious house, in appearance he was an attendant of Pamphilus, but in disposition he differed in no way from a brother, or rather a true son, and in nothing did he fall short of the imitation of his master. And what more? If one were to say that they embraced in their own number the entire form of ecclesiastical order, one would not be straying from the truth; ^D for among them was Pamphilus, honored with the presbyterate; Valens, advanced to the rank of the diaconate; and others who had been allotted the order of those accustomed to reading before the people, having endured through the most courageous patience under the lash—besides the fact that long ago, before his final martyrdom, Seleucus had already distinguished himself and had courageously accepted the loss of his military rank; while the rest, as catechumens and faithful, served to represent in a small image the likeness of the myriad-membered Church.

4. Thus we observed this marvelous selection of such and so great martyrs, in which, although

small in number, none of those orders which are wont to be found among men were lacking. For, just as on a multi-stringed lyre composed of diverse strings—high and low, slack and tight, and intermediate—all are tuned well by the art of music, so likewise in these: young with old, slave with free, learned and unlearned, noble and—in the estimation of the common crowd—ignoble, faithful and catechumens, deacons together with presbyters, all of these, as if struck in various ways by the one most wise music-master, the Word of God, displayed their virtue through their endurance of tortures, and rendered before the tribunals the brightest and most melodious, harmonious and consonant notes of confession, and finally completed the most pious and wise melody to God, the creator of all, in one and the same end, by the completion of their martyrdom. ^B

It is worthy to marvel even at the number of these men, representing the prophetic choir; for they happened to be twelve in total, as many as we have received there were patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. Nor would I say that their endurance was any other than such, or that the manifold fortitude of each one—in the flaying of their sides, and the rubbing of the flayed parts of their body with garments of goat-hair, and the incurable scourging, and the various and changed tortures, and the terrible and insufferable rackings which the guards, commanded by the judge, were intensifying with hands and feet, forcibly compelling the martyrs to do something forbidden—could be described by others, or that their courage could be set out in detail. ^C

What must be said of the memorable voices of these inspired men, in which, caring less for their sufferings, they answered the judge's inquiries with a bright and joyous countenance, laughing manfully even amidst the tortures, and with a serious disposition wittily mocking his questions? For when asked whence they were, passing over their city on earth, they declared their true homeland, proclaiming themselves to be from Jerusalem, by which, according to their own mind, they meant the heavenly city of God, toward which they were hastening. And they spoke other things of this kind, unknown and invisible to those uninitiated in sacred matters, but offered most clearly only to themselves and to those who were moved by divine faith. At these things the judge was the more exasperated, and seething with anger and being at a loss in his understanding how he might not be defeated, he contrived various machines against them; then, having fallen from his hope, he finally allowed the rewards of victory to be carried off by each one. Various, too, was their manner of death: for two of those who were still catechumens were perfected by that baptism by fire; another was conformed to the image of the saving passion; while the rest, including those who were with my beloved, were allotted various rewards among themselves. ^D

Now one might say that there is something more universal in this.

remembering [the events, one by one], one would justly ^A deserve to praise foremost the leader of the chorus while describing each individual. This man, Pamphilus, was truly a man who loved God and was, in very truth, a friend to all, according to the significance of his name; he was the ornament of the Church of Caesarea. For, being a presbyter, he glorified the presbyteral chair, at once adorning it and being adorned by the sacrifice offered there. But he was truly divine and a partaker of divine inspiration in other matters as well, since throughout his entire life he happened to distinguish himself by every virtue, having long since bidden farewell to luxury and the abundance of wealth; he consecrated himself entirely to the Word of God, and having sold all that had come to him from his ancestors, he distributed it entirely among the naked, the infirm, and the poor, while he himself led a life bereft of possessions, and through most enduring discipline he acquired for himself ^B divine philosophy. [He had originated from the city of Berytus, where he had been reared in the schools of learning there during his early years; but when his understanding matured to manhood, he moved from there to the study of the sacred Scriptures, and he took up a manner of life both divine and prophetic, and he proved himself before the end of his life a true martyr of God.]

But Pamphilus was such a man; the second to advance to the contest with him was Valens, distinguished by his advanced age and reverend white hair, a venerable old man in appearance alone; furthermore, he was learned in the divine Scriptures as was no one else, and he had possessed so firm a memory of them that he stood in no need of the aid of written texts for the use of the holy teachings which he kept stored in his memory. Yet, although he was such a man, he was content with the rank of deacon in ^C the Church of Aelia. Third, finally, was numbered Paul, a man most fervent in action and spirit, known from the city of Jamnia; who, even before his martyrdom, had wrestled through the struggle of confession by the endurance of burning iron.

PART TWO

The contests of the individual saints, and the outcome of their martyrdom.

While these three saints had spent a biennium in ^D prison, the occasion of their martyrdom was offered to them through those who were also put to the extreme penalty with them, whose arrival, along with those perfected with them, became the cause of their martyrdom; those who, according to the custom of the Cretans, [were brought]...

^A returned home, after they had escorted those condemned to the mines as far as that place; and, upon arriving at the gates of Caesarea, they were asked by the guards who they were and where they had come from. Because they did not hide anything of the truth and confessed themselves to be Christians, they were seized like criminals, caught in the very act, five in number. When they were brought before the governor and spoke with the same boldness, they were immediately consigned to chains.

On the following day, which was the sixteenth of the month of Peritius—or, according to the Romans, the fourteenth day before the Kalends of March—they were brought before Firmilianus, together with those who were with Pamphilus. He tried only the Egyptians, putting the men through all sorts of trials before the instruments of torture. Bringing into the middle the one who appeared to be the leader among them, he asked who he was and whence he came. ^B This man, instead of his own name, gave a prophetic one; the others did the same in place of the names given to them in their homeland. For when he heard them naming themselves Elias, Jeremy, Isaiah, Samuel, and Daniel, he recognized them as the hidden Jew and the true Israelite, demonstrating this not only by their deeds but also by the names they declared aloud. The judge, having heard such a name from the martyr, did not understand the power of the word, but proceeded to ask a second question: what was his fatherland? The martyr, using the same brevity as before, sent forth a second utterance, saying that Jerusalem was his fatherland, meaning by this that city concerning which it has been said by Paul: ^C "But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother," and, "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."

The martyr conceived of this city; but the governor, having his mind fixed upon the earth, inquired more diligently as to what this Jerusalem was and where on earth it was situated; and he even applied tortures so that they might confess what was true. But the martyr, with his hands twisted behind his back and his feet dislocated by certain machines, affirmed that he had spoken the truth. And when he was interrogated again and again as to what and where that city Jerusalem was, he maintained that it alone was the fatherland of the Christians. ^D

And he again philosophized in his own way through these things, not even regarding those who were tormenting him with tortures all around him, but as if he were someone without flesh and without a body, he seemed not to feel the pains. The judge, being perplexed, shook in agitation—perhaps thinking that the Christians were founding a city hostile and in rivalry to the Romans—and was insistent in his tortures, and was investigating the city that had been declared, and examining the region toward the east. But when he had mangled the youth with lashes for a long time and saw him unchanging in his prior statements, he pronounced against him the sentence of death.

And the affairs concerning him received such a denouement; then, having put the rest of the Egyptians to the test with similar struggles, he treated them in the same manner. Then, turning from this to those associated with Pamphilus, he learned that they had already been tried for a long time by various tortures. Wherefore, considering it superfluous to subject the men to the same interrogations and to labor in vain, he only inquired whether they would even now be persuaded. Upon hearing from each of them the final word of their confession, he passed a similar sentence of capital punishment against them and departed.

12. But the entire tragedy was not yet finished. For how could it be finished? A youth from the domestic service of Pamphilus, ^C jumping forth from the middle of the crowd that was surrounding the tribunal, cried out with a loud voice, requesting the bodies for burial. This blessed Porphyrius was a genuine servant of Pamphilus, not yet eighteen years old, most skilled in calligraphy, and greater than all encomiums by reason of his character and manners, as one who had been trained under such a man. When he learned of the sentence passed against his master, he shouted out from the middle of the crowd, asking that the bodies be granted for burial. ^D The judge, not a human being but a wild beast, and even fiercer than any wild beast, neither accepting the reasonableness of the request nor granting indulgence to the youth on account of his age, just as he learned that he confessed himself a Christian, ordered the executioners to use all their strength in torturing him. And when the wonderful youth refused to sacrifice at his command, the tyrant, no longer as if it were human flesh but as if it were stone or wood or something else inanimate, ordered his body to be flayed down to the very bones and internal organs. When this had been done for a long time, he finally recognized that it was being done in vain. Although the noble martyr's body lay there without a voice and almost without a soul, yet the unrelenting and inhuman judge ordered that his flesh and sides, lacerated by the tortures, be rubbed and scraped with haircloths; finally, as if wanting to satisfy his fury and filled with madness, with long and…

^A distant fire being applied, he commanded the martyr to be consumed. Thus he, before the completion of Pamphilus’s struggle, having advanced last to the contest, preceded his Lord by departing from the body.

13. It was truly a sight to see Porphyry, like an athlete who had conquered in universal combat, his body covered with dust, yet shining in his countenance, and with a confident and proud spirit, proceeding toward death, truly filled with the divine Spirit. And indeed, in the guise of a philosopher, with that cloak he wore draped over him as a tunic, looking upward and despising all mortal and human life, he approached the pyre with an untroubled soul. When the flame was already nearing him, as if he felt nothing painful at all present, the hero, with an undisturbed and sober mind, was giving orders to his acquaintances, ^B still keeping his face serene and unchanged. But when he had bidden his acquaintances a sufficient farewell and was already hastening toward God, as the pyre had been set around him at a distance, he caught the flames with his mouth from here and there, himself urging himself on in the path set before him; and this he did, crying out no other name than Jesus.

14. Such was the struggle of Porphyry. As for Seleucus, who became an angel to Pamphilus concerning his completion, he was immediately made a partaker of the same lot with them. For when he had announced the end of Porphyry to Pamphilus, ^C and had kissed the company of martyrs, the soldiers seized him and led him to the governor. He, as if hastening that he might become a fellow-traveler with the one before him, ordered him to be put to death by capital sentence. This man had come from the land of the Cappadocians; he had shone most brightly in military exercises, and had attained no small dignity in Roman advancement. Moreover, in age, in strength of body, and in the magnitude of his power, he excelled all other men by far; and his very appearance was remarkable to all, being in every way admirable for his stature and beauty. At the beginning of the persecution, he had distinguished himself in the struggles of confession through his endurance of scourging. But after departing from the military service, having set himself to emulate those who are ascetics of piety, he proved himself a genuine soldier of Christ. To orphans who were destitute, and to widows lacking a protector, and to all who were struggling with poverty and infirmity, ^D he acted as a bishop and as a caregiver, taking on the labors and sufferings of the outcasts like a father and guardian (wherefore it is reasonable that God rejoices in such things more than in sacrifices of smoke and blood), and thus he was deemed worthy of the completion that comes through martyrdom. This tenth athlete finished his struggle on one and the same day, and as it is right to believe, he amplifies his own martyrdom...

^A by the fact that, once the gate of heaven was opened to Pamphilus, an easy and abundant way into the kingdom of God was opened for him as well.

15. Following in the footsteps of Seleucus, Theodulus, a venerable and godly old man, came forward: a man honored with the first rank in a proconsular household, both by his character and by the prerogative of his age; and as he was the father of three sons, and because of the affection he kept for those under his charge, having acted in a manner identical to Seleucus, and having greeted some of the martyrs with a kiss, he was brought before the ruler. By thus inciting against himself an anger even greater than that shown to the others, he underwent the same passion for the saving confession by being handed over to the cross.

16. In addition to these, one more remained to complete the number of twelve for those already mentioned; Julian was present to complete this number. Coming from abroad at that very hour, and hardly having entered the city, when he learned what had happened and hastened to go to look at the martyrs, he saw their bodies lying on the ground. Full of joy, he embraced each one, kissing them all. While he was doing this, the ministers of slaughter seized him and led him ^B before the governor. He, acting in accordance with his own purpose, handed him over to a slow fire. Thus, Julian, rejoicing and exulting, and with a loud voice giving thanks to God who had deemed him worthy of such great blessings, was received into the choirs of the martyrs. He too was from the race of the Cappadocians, but in his character he was full of piety and full of faith, a gentle and kind man, diligent in all things, and breathing the fragrance of the Holy Spirit; ^C and on that account he was deemed worthy to attain the crown of martyrdom along with the blessed Pamphilus.

17. For four days and as many nights, by the command of Firmilianus, the most holy bodies of the martyrs of God lay exposed as food for carnivorous beasts. But when, through the providence of God, no beast, bird, or dog came near them, they remained whole and unharmed. After having received the honor and care due to them, they were committed to their accustomed burial; and being entrusted to the most ^D beautiful of the holy houses and sacred oratories, they were given over to be honored by the people of God in everlasting memory.